Belt buckle



April 22, 1924. 1,491,406

Y lE. N. HUMFHREY BELT BUCKLE Fild NOV. l 1922 A TTOHNEY5 Patented Apr. 22, 1924.

n v' ERNEST N. HUMPHREY, OF .NEW'BRITAIN-y CONNECTICUT.

Y' yBELT BUCKLE.` 1 N Application ledNovember 1, 1922. Serial'No. 598,263.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, ERNEST N.v HUM- PHREY, a citizen of the United Stat-es of America, residing at New Britain, Connecticut, have invented a new and usefulv Belt Buckle, of which the following is a specilication.

My invention relates to improvements in belt buckles, the object being to provide an exceedingly simple and effective construction which may be cheaply and rapidly produced, and yet which will possess great durability.

In the accompanying drawingsv Figure l is an edge ele-vation of the buckle, the same being open.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal section, relatively enlarged and showing the buckle as partially closed.

Figure 3 is a similar view, showing the buckle fully closed.

Figure 4 is a perspective view of a detail, relatively enlarged.

l represents the front plate of the b-uckle, which may be of any suitable shape and size. 2 2 represent anges at the opposite side edges of the plate 1, forming a channel through which one end of the belt may slide for adjustment purposes, and in which channel said belt when properly adjusted, may be locked or gripped by a novel gripping member. The gripping member in the specific form shown is made from a relatively stiff piece of sheet metal, bent into angular form to provide at one end the gripping element or jaw per se, and at the other end an operating arm or lever carrying means for securing the fixed part of the belt. In the particular form shown this securing means comprises what is termed a ratchet 4, which locks the fixed end 5 of the belt securely in place. It should be understood that no novelty is claimed for this ratchet fastening means, and that any suit-able means for securing the fixed end 5 of the belt to the buckle may be employed. The jaw or gripping portion per se comprises an upstanding part 6, which is bent near its free edge to form` a rounded lip 7 for engaging the back of that part of the belt which passes through the channel. The free end of the jaw is provided with a second gripping lip 8, preferably formed by bending downwardly and upwardly the edge of the jaw in the manner shown in the several views. The gripping member is pivoted at 9 vat the. lower edgel of Athe Jaw so as to swing between the opposite side flanges 2 2. Attention is directed'y to, the fact that the radius from the pivotal center of the. jaw to the edge ofthe .lip-8is greater than the radius from said -center of the edge of the lip 7, the purposeland advantage of thisldifference in radius `being pointed outy in the description, of the 'operation of the buckle. vl0 represents that passes through the" end of the belt which channel in the buckle frame andY which, when properly adjusted, is secured in place by the gripping member.

Latas rFicE.

In operation the free end l()` of :the belt is passed through the channel at the back of the buckle frame, the gripping memberbeing swung open as shown in Figure 1. When the belt end has been passed through the channel the gripping element is swung so as to move the jaw portions toward the back of the belt. On this movement the edge 7 -8 will first engage the belt end 10, as shown in F igure' 2. A slight further move ment in the same direction causes the parts to assume the position, shown in lFigure 3, wherein both gripping edges '7*8 will engage the belt with substantially uniform pressure. Under normal conditions this engagement will be suiicient to prevent slippage, but in the event of excessive strain any tendency of the belt to slip will likewise tend to swing or spring that part of the jaw above the pivotal center in a direction to cause the lip 8 to move toward the plate l, by reason of the greater radius previously described, and thereby sink deeper into the belt end 10, an exert a greater resistance to any slipping movement. v The moment excessive strain is released the parts return automatically to the normal position indicated in Figure 3, wherein both lips 8-9 bear against the belt with substantial uniformity. It will be noted that the belt end 5 exerts a substantially straight-line pull against the pivot 9 when the parts are in operative position.

From the foregoing it will be seen that, under normal conditions, that part of the belt engaged by the gripping member is not under unduly heavy compression, with the than that actually required to prevent slipping, and hence Wear is reduced to a minimum. p

To release the belt the gripping element is swung back by means of the operating end toward the position indicated in Figure 1, whereupon the end 10 may be freely Withdrawn Jfrom the buckle. By making the gripping element rigid with the operating element it Will be seen that the former may be positively moved into and out of the gripping position.

I claim:

1. A belt buckle comprising a front plate having a belt passage at its rear side, an integral sheet metal operating member and gripping member, said operating member having means for securing one end of a belt, said gripping member being formed at an angle to said operating member and the free end being bent to form a rounded belt gripping jaw and the extreme end being bent up to form a second belt gripping jaw, said integral sheet metal operating member and grippingmember being pivotally mounted on the rear side of said Airont plate and the extreme free .end constituting one gripping jaw being at a greater distance than the rounded belt gripping jaw from the pivotal mounting.

2. A belt buckle comprising a front plate having a belt passage at its rear side, a belt gripping and operating member pivotally mounted on the rear side of said front plate, said belt gripping and operating member being integrally formed of sheet metal, means on the operating member for securing one end of a belt thereto, said belt gripping member being bent at an angle to the operating member and the free e'nd of said belt gripping member being bent' rearwardly to form a rounded belt gripping jaw and the extreme end of said member being bent forwardly to form a second belt gripping jaw, said bent portionsV on the free end of said belt gripping member forming the same into substantially S shape.

ERNEST N. HUMPHREY. 

